It’s absolutely appalling the number of Catholics who are advocating for the murder of non-Catholics whom they deem heretics, and then cobbling together unrelated passages of Scripture to justify it, no less.
There is NO justification found anywhere, including Scripture, for the murder of someone rejecting a denominational affiliation.
That the HOLY SPIRIT slew Ananias and Sapphira does NOT justify the RCC taking up the sword. It is NOT man’s job to remove people from this life.
To imply that Paul justifies that action by taking out of context his quote about removing the immoral brother from fellowship and using it to imply that he approves of MURDER for disagreeing with the church is unconscionable.
And the passage about the two witnesses in Revelation is not relevant in the least.
THAT post 2,638, is an absolute abomination.
Bears repeating. Tell ‘em.
Appalling, yes, but perfectly consistent with the anthropo-cratic impulses of Rome. This lurch toward a spirit of murder is just the seed in full flower. The analytical shallowness of the attempt to justify these murders based on Scripture is breathtaking. The question of proper jurisdiction defeats every one of them. Easily.
The incestuous man Paul kicks out of the visible assembly? That’s a transfer from the jurisdiction of the Ecclesia of Christ to the jurisdiction of the world system, which is dominated by Satan. Paul nowhere advocates that the Ecclesia, by office or person, take the life of another. We release them to the jurisdiction that matches their moral choices.
Furthermore, the incestuous man is not a doctrinal dissident, he is committing an egregious sexual sin, which sort of sin very often is condemned under the near universal principles of natural law, and is classed with murder and theft and other evils that are already accounted for under both civil law and the law of natural consequences, which is usually where Satan catches up with bad men (and women).
And rightly you say that God took the lives of Ananias and Saphira. Again, note that Peter acted ONLY within his sphere of jurisdiction. The sin was identified, but Peter, unlike that time in the garden, was not reaching for a temporal sword, but handed the offenders over to God, a transfer of jurisdiction, and God DOES have absolute authority to take back any life He has given.
As for the two prophets of revelation, note their actions are justified as self defence. Their enemies are those setting about to harm them, and God gives them a means of self-defence that works until their mission is complete. Similarly, as I originally stated, it is NOT murder to protect one’s own life. But the blood on Rome’s brutal hands was not shed in an act of defence from physical violence, but mere doctrinal dissent, in which, even if it were the Ecclesia Christ is building (and it is not), it would still not have jurisdiction to take a human life.
As for the prophets of old, and under Moses, that was a theocracy, which by definition entails a temporal jurisdiction in combination with a spiritual jurisdiction. Jesus has specifically refused to give the Ecclesia temporal jurisdiction, so none of those OT examples are controlling. We may not do more and we must not do less than what is permitted to us in the jurisdiction created for us by the authority of Jesus and the apostles. Acting to end a human life outside that jurisdiction is not only physical murder, but spiritual suicide, as the soul that becomes accustomed to lawless killing may reach a point of reprobation from which there is no return. The wise will see the peril and will go another way.
Peace,
SR
It seems to me your post to me is an extreme overreaction. Hysterics aside, neither Peter nor Paul murdered anyone. Nor did Elijah or any other prophet of the LORD. Yet they certainly did kill them, and using removing the immoral brother from fellowship is a novel euphemism for delivering a man over to death. The prophets and apostles, upon whom the church is founded, with Jesus Christ the chief corner stone, have this authority and power. The scripture is never irrelevant.